Most of us have known someone that was just friendly. They were always smiling and shaking hands. They were always willing to help even at great inconvenience to themselves.
Most of us also have known that “friend” that always had their hand out. They always needed something. They were never available if you needed help, but readily available if it benefited them.
Which one of these would you rather be around? Easy answer right. More importantly, which one of these friends would you rather be? Still I feel like that’s an easy answer. Now for the deeper question. In relation to Jesus, which type of friend are you? Do we only approach Jesus to answer our prayers? We should bring our prayers to Him, but that’s not the only time we should approach Jesus. Do we spend time praising Him? Do we spend time in His Word? Do we spend time in His presence? Do we talk about Him to others because we talk about our good friends to others? Are we friendly towards Jesus? As it says in Proverbs 18:24 KJV A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
You see we’re all too often concerned about how our relationship with Jesus benefits us. We should also be focused on what we can do for Him. We read in John 15:13 KJV Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This was Jesus talking and yes He was talking about laying down His life for us. This statement applies to us as well. Need proof?
1 John 3:16 KJV Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Now this scripture says lay down our lives for the brethren. You may think, how is that laying down our lives for Jesus? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:40 KJV). You see what we do for our brethren, we do for Jesus. What we do for the kingdom, we do for Jesus.
What else can we do as friends of Jesus? Well Jesus said in John 15:14 KJV Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. We should follow His commandments and teachings. He really stipulated it, by saying “if you.” Which implies if you don’t, then you’re not His friend. You may think that sounds a little harsh, but don’t you also have things that will eliminate someone from being your friend? Of course you do. You may not have a list written out, but there are limits. He furthermore says in John 14:15 KJV If ye love me, keep my commandments. So keeping His commandments is important. So if it’s that important then we should spend time learning about them. Which means we should spend time in the Word of God.
Let’s not just sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and not be a friend to Him. Let’s take time to just be in His presence. Read His Word, praise Him, lift up our brethren, help each other.
Proverbs 17:17 NLT A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.
1 John 3:18 ISV Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth.
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